by Dan Hampton
* Ninety-one thousand out of 265,000 Germans survived to surrender, including 22 general officers. Less than 6,000 of these men would finally return to Germany in 1955.
* UGF: United States to Gibraltar, Fast convoy.
* While flying a white flag, Colonel Demas “Nick” Craw was killed by a French machine gunner as he attempted to negotiate the surrender of the Port Lyautey garrison.
* The original P-40 was called the “Warhawk,” and this name was officially used by all U.S. Army Air Corps units. Soviet and British squadrons called P-40B/C the “Tomahawk” until the D variant, or “Kittyhawk,” became operational.
* About ten miles south of Casablanca on the A7, it is still in operation as Mohammed V International Airport.
* The Royal Air Force, who purchased the initial planes, called it the “Mustang.”
* The Airplane: A History of Its Technology, p. 231.
* The Northwest African Photographic Reconnaissance Wing, also a component of NATAF, was commanded by Colonel Elliott Roosevelt, the president’s son.
* The Eighth Air Force’s 98th and 376th Bombardment Groups and the Fifteenth Air Force’s 44th, 93rd, and 389th Bombardment Groups.
* Fifty-three bombers were shot down and only eight-eight made it back to their home bases.
* Most of the fleet sortied and made it to Malta or North Africa.
* Gruppe III of Kampfgeschwader 100. This was the only operational unit to use the Fritz X.
* On August 23, 1943, the 27th Bombardment Group was redesignated the 27th Fighter-Bomber Group, and the 17th Bombardment Squadron was renamed the 523 Fighter-Bomber Squadron.
* Oberleutnant Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch of Fallschirmjäger-Lehr Bataillon actually freed Mussolini. This is often and incorrectly attributed to Otto Skorzeny, who was present and did escort the former dictator out of Italy, but did not plan or lead the raid.
* Ju 52 trimotor, nicknamed the “Iron Annie,” it could fly from Italy to Berlin in about eight hours.
* American author Marilyn vos Savant, listed in Guinness World Records as the holder of the “Highest IQ” between 1986 and 1989, is a descendant of Ernst Mach.
* This type of photography illuminates an object in a flow field, using light to capture shadows formed by the differences in density that result from pressure changes as a body approaches and exceeds supersonic speeds.
* It was labeled XP-59 as a cover. There was an existing piston-engined XP-50 program so if discovered, it was hoped the Axis would simply believe it to be another conventional fighter.
* Officially designated as “T-799 Japanese Battleship, Plan No 944/41 W-509-Eng 4239” and was used until 1950. Then, in true Army fashion, this ship in the desert was labeled a “hazard to flight” and dismantled—which took some time due to the pile of unexploded bombs in the belly.
* It had issues of its own, though, especially the fuel pump system, and this resulted in crashes that killed Milo Burcham, Lockheed’s chief engineering test pilot, and Major Dick Bong, America’s leading ace.
* 324 Lancasters; 218 Halifaxes; 54 Stirlings. Forty bombers were lost.
* Claimed by Leutnant Alfred Schreiber of Erprobungskommando 262 flying an Me 262 A-1a.
* Tempest V at approximately 740 miles and the Spitfire Mk. XIVe at 460 miles.
* The Luftwaffe had inadvertently bombed London in late August but September 7 marked the first of fifty-seven consecutive nights of bombing known as the “Blitz.”
* General Motors was awarded over $30 million while Ford received $1.1 million.
* Four thousand bearings were used in each Focke-Wulf 190 fighter.
* Spain and the Soviet Union utilized wide, or broad gauge, railways.
* The Kuno 1 waldwerke and the A8 autobahn near Augsburg was used for the Me 262 Messerschmitt jet fighter.
* Nicknamed La Nueve, this was the Ninth Company, Regiment of the March of Chad, and was composed of Spanish soldiers commanded by a French captain.
* Thirty-four credited victories on the Western Front including fifteen heavy bombers and sixteen fighters. On May 23, 1940, Specht shot down a Spitfire flown by Squadron Leader Roger Bushell. Eventually incarcerated in Poland, Bushell, who engineered the famous “Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III, was subsequently caught and executed.
* During the initial fighting for the Bulge, JG 11 alone lost over 140 aircraft with fifty-nine pilots killed or wounded.
* The code name was chosen to cover the buildup of troops in the border area. “Watch on the Rhine” was meant to look like a plan to defend the German border.
* Led by Lieutenant Colonel Joachim Peiper, infamous for the massacre at Malmedy of 150 captured American soldiers from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion.
* 328th, 486th, and 487th Fighter Squadrons: the Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney. The 366th FG had deployed to Asch from Laon-Couvron in November 1944.
* Lieutenant John Stearns of the 486th Fighter Squadron flew with the one roll of toilet paper he’d brought with him.
* Captain Simpson, West Point ’43, survived the war with 102 combat missions, a Silver star, and Distinguished Flying Cross, among others. One of the first P-80 jet pilots, in 1946 he was killed in an aircraft crash while going home on leave.
* J. C. Meyer would survive the war with 200 combat missions and 24 aerial kills. After graduating from Dartmouth, he would take the 4th Fighter Wing to Korea, lead the first all-jet dogfight in December 1950, and command SAC for Operation Linebacker during the waning days of the Vietnam War.
* This was likely a unit of the 430th AA Battalion. Preddy’s brother Bill was a pilot with the 352nd Group at Asch. He would also be shot down and killed by AAA in early April 1945.
* Forty-seven percent from AAA; 23 percent from Allied fighters; and the rest from accidents, mechanical failures, and fuel.
* Gabby Gabreski, Doolittle Raider Charles Greening, and 479th Fighter Group commander “Hub” Zemke were also prisoners here. So was future actor Donald Pleasence who, ironically, starred in the 1963 movie The Great Escape, about Stalag Luft, III.
* YP-80 # 44-86026.
* This included Swiss, Danish, Spanish, and Swedish volunteers of the 11th SS Panzergrenadiers. The SS 33rd (Charlemagne) Division, an all-French unit, was also present.
* The first B-29 was named Enola Gay and flown by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets. The second B-29 was called Bockscar, commanded by Major Charles W. Sweeney.
* Truman was an artillery officer with the 129th Field Artillery and fought during several 1918 engagements, including the Meuse-Argonne. He also volunteered to fight in World War II, and remained an inactive reserve officer until 1953.
* The Joint Chiefs of Staff estimate that 1.2 million American casualties, and at least 5 million Japanese, were spared when invasion became unnecessary due to the employment of the atomic bomb.
* Watson was rumored to be the inspiration behind Steve Canyon, Milton Caniff’s comic book hero.
* Initially described by Sir George Cayley in 1810, a dihedral in aerodynamics denotes an upward (positive) angle between two horizontal surfaces. The upward angle is a stabilizing influence against an aircraft’s rolling tendencies.
* Including millions of pounds worth of aluminum, cobalt, graphite, and heavy water for the Soviet nuclear program.
* March 5,1946, at Westminster College.
* In fact, the leading Allied ace was a Russian, Ivan Kozhedub, with sixty-two kills.
* Zornig is frequently overlooked, but he compiled a great deal of supersonic data while chief of the Army’s Ammunition Division. He also founded the first Scientific Advisory Committee to the Ballistic Research Laboratory.
* The “S” was quickly dropped and it became universally known as the X-1.
* Two other P-80s piloted by Captains John Babel and Martin Smith flew with him, but did not fly nonstop as they were forced to refuel in Topeka, Kansas. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made roughly the same trip in fourteen hours and twenty-five minutes.
* XP-80R # 44-85200.
* To learn the catechism, she bribed her students with pocketknives.
* Marion Morrison would later assume “John Wayne” as his professional name.
* One version for the name’s origin, which this author accepts, is that Jimmy Doolittle himself told Pancho that an afternoon on a horse “gave me a happy bottom.” There is no doubt, however, that Pancho encouraged the sexual double entendre relative to the hostesses she later employed.
* That lot today, a block away from Wilshire Boulevard, would be worth at least $1 million.
* The new USAF serial number was 45-59597. The old Army Air Force “P” designation for fighter aircraft was replaced with “F” after September 18, 1947.
* Table of U.S. Standard Atmospheric Heights and Temperature.
* Nearly $3 billion worth of business in 2018 dollars.
* Hypersonic speed is above Mach 5 (3,836.35 mph at sea level) while less than 56 miles (90 km) above Earth.
* Century Series jets all have designation derived from “100”: F-100, F-101, F-102, etc.
* Fédération Aéronautique Internationale: Aviation and Space World Records.
* Bob White would go on to fight in his third war with his old unit, now the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, and flew another seventy combat missions out of Takhli, Thailand, during Vietnam.
*XB-49 #42-10238.
* Section 6, 8578-D.
* The first USS Wright (AV-1) was named for only Orville Wright.
* Glen Chilstrom became a noted psychiatrist; John Scott Chilstrom followed his father into the USAF and retired as a colonel; Carol Lynn is a successful businesswoman.
* Figures vary and there is no single consistent percentage, though Scientific American reckons the number may be as high as 95 percent. It is agreed that the majority of humans are right hand dominant.